A Korean traditional dancer smiles during the 2008 Yongsan Fall Festival Parade Oct. 11 on Yongsan Garrison, Seoul, Republic of Korea. Nearly 5,000 Koreans and Americans enjoyed the day-long celebration of autumn. Saturday, October 11, 2008.

This photo was taken by David McNally of the U.S. Army Garrison in Yongsan, South Korea, during the 2008 Yongsan Fall Parade. Chae sangmo hats are representative of pungmul’s dance tradition and are worn by some of the most skilled performers in pungmul ensembles.

Imagery is a weekly feature of the best images of pungmul the web has to offer. To make a recommendation or submission, contact us at us.pungmul@gmail.com.

Kwon Chil Seung, from Korean Culture Center, cheers as he plays kkwaenggwari, which is a small flat gong used primarily in folk music of Korea. Over one thousand Korean Soccer fans gathered at KTN Ballroom in Duluth to watch their first 2010 World Cup game versus Greece. Saturday, June 12, 2010.

This photo was taken by Hyosub Shin of The Atlanta Constitution-Journal in Duluth, Georgia, during the 2010 World Cup group match between South Korea and Greece. It shows an ecstatic kkwaenggwari player on a backdrop of cheering fans. Pungmul groups are usually present at large-scale celebrations and rallies held by Korean American communities.

Imagery is a weekly feature of the best images of pungmul the web has to offer. To make a recommendation or submission, contact us at us.pungmul@gmail.com.

덩덩 덩덩 더더덩 덩덩 딱 더러러러러러…

Binari, the cultural troupe of the MinKwon Center for Community Action (formerly YKASEC), was founded in 1985 as one of the first U.S. pungmul groups. It remains active today in the New York City metropolitan area.

US Pungmul is the manifestation of years of pungmul development in the United States. Pungmul ensembles can be found across the contiguous states, from California to New York, and from Minnesota to Georgia. With hundreds, perhaps thousands, of instrument players, it would be a shame not to share our experiences with each other.

As a web resource, US Pungmul has two primary objectives:

1. We serve as a repository of videos, photographs, and documents describing the pungmul experience in the United States.
2. We serve to make pungmul a shared and collective experience, turning this tradition of folk music into our tradition and creating a unique identity from it.

US Pungmul as a name has two meanings. The first indicates that this resource focuses on pungmul development in the United States, away from its cultural origins in Korea. The result of this process is the creation of a new identity and tradition for communities in the U.S.

The second meaning is found through breaking the name into two words: “us” and “pungmul”. By connecting traditional pungmul to us, as members of the Korean percussion community, we can share the collective experience of transforming this rich tradition. In the Korean language, this concept can be described as uri pungmul (우리풍물), meaning our pungmul.

We hope you will join us in this project. Submissions, questions, and comments can be directed to our e-mail address at us.pungmul@gmail.com.